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In a news conference following the shareholders’ vote, Wilson said the results show that Agrium has a great team in place.

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“The company works very well under fire,” he said. “I’m proud to say we have a good organization and good morale.”

Wilson said he doesn’t know what Jana’s plans are now, following their defeat over the directors’ nominations.

“If they go away, that’s their decision,” he said. “If they stay, I will look forward to sitting down with them and saying okay, I want to talk with you like I talk to every shareholder. I want to be very collaborative in this.”

However Jana called the vote “tainted” and called for an investigation.

Jana, which is Agrium’s largest shareholder, had thought it had enough votes to have two of its nominees sit on the board. However, it said that votes were revoked to prevent them from the winning seats.

“We’re not going away,” said Barry Rosenstein, Jana’s lead partner.

The fertilizer giant said the vote was done according to the rules.

“The loss was pure and simple, fair and square,” said Walied Soliman, a lawyer for Agrium, following the vote count.

“The results speak for themselves and stands up to any scrutiny. All of Agrium’s shareholders had their say today and they support Agrium. The victory of Agrium’s nominees were decisive, unequivocal and beyond reproach.”

New York-based Jana, which has spent more than $1 billion for a 7.5 per cent stake in Agrium, has made a number of proposals for change at the company.

It wanted to push for better cost control, governance and capital management. Jana also wanted to spin off Agrium’s retail division, which sells seeds, fertilizers and other products to farmers, from its wholesale segment.

The activist investor had sought to have five of nominees elected to Agrium’s board of 12 people.

Among the changes sought by Jana, the investment firm has proposed to spin off Agrium’s retail business into a separate company.

Agrium said the board has weighed the idea and determined such a move would destroy shareholder value.

Jana said it merely wants Agrium to thoroughly and independently review that option, as well as better manage capital, improve governance and cut costs.

Agrium contends that a split remains Jana’s primary aim, and has accused it of using “Trojan horse tactics” to break up the company.

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